In the past, a key property of most polymers which was thought to distinguish them from metals was the inability to carry electricity. During the past 15 to 20 years a new class of organic polymers has been developed with the surprising ability to conduct electrical current. The ability to conduct electrical current gives rise to possible applications, such as, rechargeable batteries, electrolytic capacitors, variable light transmittance windows, electrochromic display devices, and light emitting diodes (LED's). Conductive polymers are known to have one thing in common. They contain pi-conjugated systems, that is, single and double bonds alternating along a main polymer chain. Such highly conjugated polymers having regular alternating single and double bonds include, for example, polyacetylene, polythiophene, polypyrrole, polyaniline, and poly-p-phenylene. General background concerning structure, properties, and uses of redox active, electroactive, conductive polymers is described in an article entitled "Conductive Polymers" by Mercouri G. Kanatzidis published in Chemical and Engineering News, Dec. 3, 1990 and in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,569,734; 4,640,749; 4,818,646; 4,987,042; 5,108,573; and 4,758,634 each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety. One drawback to the use of such polymers in many applications is their lack of processability due to the insoluble and/or infusible nature of the polymers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,573 demonstrates polyaniline grown electrochemically on a substrate. Similar electrochemical polymerization is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,734; 4,640,749; 4,818,646; and 4,987,042. These methods of preparation, which rely on electrochemical polymerization, form films adhered to a substrate rather than free-standing films. Oxidative polymerization by electrochemical or chemical means is also known to introduce defects, e.g., chain branching, cross-linking, incorporation of chloride or other anionic groups, and over-oxidation. These defects limit the solubility and conductivity of the polymer films.
Accordingly, there is a need for a new class of polymers having the highly conjugated, regular alternating single and double bonds, and a new method for their preparation.